CHENNAI: Nithyanandham (39) has been the second shadow of the late DMK president, M Karunanidhi, for over a decade. Karunanidhi used to call him Nithya and it became his regular name.
Ever since Karunanidhi underwent spinal surgery, his mobility was reduced and most of the time, he moved in wheelchair. From this time onwards, Nithya’s assistance became very inevitable almost throughout every day.
Over the past one decade, Nithya had become one of the added members of the DMK patriarch’s family. This was evident at Anna memorial on Wednesday evening just minutes ahead of his burial. Starting from MK Stalin, every family member poured salt in the coffin with tears. And Nithya too did that. After some time, when the body was kept inside the burial pit, sand was given to the members of the leader’s family and they dropped it inside the pit and Nithya too did it.
Nithya’s father was a DMK functionary in Sevilimedu village in Kancheepuram district. Nithya joined the DMK headquarters for clerical work in 1996. A few years later, he became an assistant to DMK general secretary K Anbazhagan. On seeing the attentive nature of Nithya for some time, Anbazhagan recommended him to Karunanidhi, saying, “This boy would be very suitable to assist you.”
After Karunanidhi became Chief Minister in 2006, Nithya moved closer to him and in 2007 and started staying at the Gopalapuram residence for most of the time.